Even without all this expansion we weren't going to see promotion/relegation anytime soon, and I don't know that it'll have too much of an impact on ending the single-entity structure. The league has pretty much doubled in size in the last decade, and yet the level of talent has increased substantially over the same span, so I'm not too worried about that, especially with the big increase in TV revenue if rumors of the new deal are accurate.

The real issue with all this expansion is all four announced teams are on the east coast, which will force conference realignment, likely pushing Kansas City, the defending champs, and Houston, runner up the two years before that, into a Western Conference that's already significantly stronger and deeper than the East.

I hate the conference setup, but the single table alternative isn't going to be viable with that many teams unfortunately. In an ideal world I would love it if they took the Apertura/Clausura model, which would place a bigger emphasis on regular season results. I just don't think it could work for teams dealing with regular season + playoffs + US Open + Champions League. It would be too much.

Unlike some of the things the league did early on to court American sports fans, like not letting games end in ties, I think the playoff structure is good for the league. European leagues don't usually do it that way within individual leagues, but the Champions League is effectively the playoffs for them. Maybe when and if the CONCACAF Champions League becomes a bigger deal/more competitive they can consider scaling it back some.

As you pointed out, a balanced schedule really isn't in the cards for a league as big as it's going to be, and without that putting a ton of importance on the regular season doesn't seem like a fair deal.

Maybe the biggest remaining game in the English Premier League season kicks off this afternoon, with Everton taking on Manchester City. If Liverpool are going to be able to hang on and win the league they need City to drop points somewhere along the line, and this seems like the most likely chance of that happening. It's a pretty interesting situation to be in for Liverpool and Everton, hated cross-town rivals forced into a rare common interest situation.

The Sounders are just unstoppable right now. Tonight was their fourth win in a row, and they've got the best record in the league. The main key seems to be their relentless attack combined with incredible attacking depth.

They've got Kenny Cooper, who a couple years back scored 18 goals in a season, coming off the bench, so he's full energy coming out against a gassed opponent for the final third. They've now scored 8 goals in the final 15 minutes of gamed in the 9 games they've played so far this year.

Today the long-rumored ESPN/Fox deal for the MLS TV rights was made official. It's a massive bump up in money from the previous deal, to the point that it seems like kind of a bad move on their part, but this influx of cash will allow the league to take the next step in its development.

World Cup training camp for the United States has begun. Klinsmann brought in 30 guys, has to cut that down to 23 by June 2. Expect some kind of crazy free-for-all among the defenders, because the only guy there that's really locked down his spot is Matt Besler. It's a combination of guys who are past their prime (DaMarcus Beasley, for example) and guys who probably aren't ready for this level yet (my boy DeAndre Yedlin).

Today the long-rumored ESPN/Fox deal for the MLS TV rights was made official. It's a massive bump up in money from the previous deal, to the point that it seems like kind of a bad move on their part, but this influx of cash will allow the league to take the next step in its development.

The worst part might be hearing Gus Johnson's voice on the Fox broadcasts but all in all it looks like a good deal. Fridays on Univision plus a doubleheader every Sunday night sounds good.

Today the long-rumored ESPN/Fox deal for the MLS TV rights was made official. It's a massive bump up in money from the previous deal, to the point that it seems like kind of a bad move on their part, but this influx of cash will allow the league to take the next step in its development.

The worst part might be hearing Gus Johnson's voice on the Fox broadcasts but all in all it looks like a good deal. Fridays on Univision plus a doubleheader every Sunday night sounds good.

NBC's coverage was better, but for the kind of money they're getting and guaranteed consistent time slots I'll absolutely take that hit.

Sepp Blatter has admitted giving the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake, making him the last person in the world to realize that.

Blatter only admitted the "it's going to be too hot to play in the summer" part of giving Qatar the bid completely glossing over the massive human rights violations going on and the fact that Qatar is not ready to host such a massive event. No regrets!

Portugal released their World Cup roster, and sadly my hopes of some kind of insane clerical error keeping Christiano Ronaldo off it didn't come to pass. That game in the Amazon looks to be a pretty big one.

I wouldn't be too worried Insanolord. In my opinion I don't think we have a great team. One player can't carry the whole team all the time, and if the other players can't keep up with Cristiano then there isn't much of a team to begin with. I'm just being humble because I know how the Portuguese can utterly fail against teams that should suffer 10+ goals.

The one nice thing is the US-Portugal game is going to be played under conditions that probably favor the US. It's in the Amazon, which involves a lot of travel, which MLS-based players are used to, and also very hot and humid conditions, which you get used to playing qualifiers in Central America.

That's the key game for us, I think. We should be able to beat Ghana without too much trouble, and if we can get a win from Portugal we've got a decent chance to get through regardless of what we do against Germany.

Klinsmann's named the final 23-man roster, and if you thought Eddie Johnson being left off the 30-man was controversial you ain't seen nothing yet.

Landon Donovan, veteran of 3 World Cups and probably the best American non-keeper to ever play the game, will be watching on TV with the rest of us. Meanwhile, Chris Wondolowski, a man I've argued up and down doesn't have the talent to play at this level, is on the plane.

Also, there's a pretty significant youth movement, with my boy DeAndre Yedlin, John Anthony Brooks, and a guy who three months ago wasn't eligible to play for the US in Julian Green are all going to Brazil.

There are some pretty bold choices here, and if they don't work out Jurgen's going to take a whole lot of **** for them. He should probably be thankful the USSF already extended his contract through the next World Cup cycle.

I mean, I think there's a good chance Yedlin and Brooks never see the field, and Green will almost certainly only be used as a sub, but yeah. Still, aside from Donovan pretty much everyone you'd expect is going, so it's not like they're just taking the U21 team.

My jaw dropped when I saw that Landon wasn't on the roster. However, he hasn't been a major factor throughout this cycle so I can see why Klinsmann dropped him. Interesting roster selections. That back line has me worried though, some good players like Besler, Cameron and Gonzalez, we'll see how they handle the group of death though.

Our back line, generally (and accurately) considered the weak point of the team, looked great, though part of that was certainly the overall lack of pressure against it. Still, not really anything bad to say about any member of it, and I personally loved DeAndre Yedlin's shoulder-first body check of whoever that guy was.

Conversely, just as the perceived weak point of the team was great, Michael Bradley, widely considered the best player on the team not named Tim Howard, played terribly. Even though Jermaine Jones actually stayed back and played defense so Bradley could get forward like you'd want him to, it fell flat. I'd be shocked if Klinsy doesn't start Kyle Beckerman over Jones in the next friendly; for whatever reason, Bradley just doesn't perform well when paired with Jones.

Mix Diskerud, who took the number 10 after Donovan got cut, played like a guy who deserved to be wearing that number. He had probably one of the best performances of anybody on the team last night, and while that's not saying a ton, I think he put himself in a good position to win the job starting on the wing opposite Zusi, especially with how unremarkable Bedoya was.

Jozy Altidore didn't look great, but there was enough of a showing to think he might just be able to break out of his funk for the tournament. Jozy's an extremely talented striker when he can get his head on straight, and one of the best things you can say about Jurgen Klinsmann is he seems to do a better job than anyone else of getting him there.